Addis Ababa, 27 July 26, 2014 (WIC) – Sudan and Egypt have agreed to promote military coordination in order to protect joint borders against smuggling rings, economic and security threats, Sudan Tribune r Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 eported.
Egypt’s defence minister, Lt. Gen. Sidqi Subhi, hailed bilateral relations between Cairo and Khartoum in various fields.
Subhi, on Saturday met the Sudanese investment minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail in the presence of Egypt’s chiefs of staff and the military attaché and chargé d’affaires at Sudan’s embassy in Cairo besides several other officials.
The private Ashorooq TV website said that Ismail handed Subhi over a letter from his Sudanese counterpart, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein.
Hussein, according to the letter, praised military cooperation between Egypt and Sudan particularly on the border issue, stressing that Sudan supports Egypt’s efforts to secure the joint borders against threats.
Ismail said the meeting discussed ongoing arrangements to inaugurate the two land crossings of Ashkait and Argeen, pointing the former is expected to be opened in Mid-August while the latter will be opened at the end of the year.
Subhi, for his part, underscored the need to promote the Sudanese-Egyptian relations and make it the perfect model for the Arab-African interdependence.
He said the recent visit of president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to Sudan sought to enhance economic cooperation and political coordination between the two countries at the regional and international levels.
The Egyptian defence minister further noted he looks forward to meeting his Sudanese counterpart in his planned visit to Cairo soon to discuss ways for promoting military ties between the two countries.
“There will be mutual visits between the two sides to discuss additional measures for securing the joint borders”, he added.
The Egyptian-Sudanese border is known to be a smuggling hotspot, and was also recently highlighted in a report by Human Rights Watch as a human trafficking route.
Last June, the Egyptian president made a lightening visit to Sudan. He flew to Khartoum from Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo where attended the 23rd Ordinary African Union (AU) summit.